Lavender in the Luberon
(3 days)

Itinerary

DAY

LOCATION(S)

HOTEL

MEALS

DESCRIPTION

Day 1

Avignon, France

Centrally Located Hotel In Avignon

Dinner

Pick up your rental car. Your hotel, Mas de Guilles, is a 17th-Century Provençal farmhouse located just outside the village of Lourmarin, frequently voted as one of the most beautiful villages in France. During the drive, you will see vineyards, fields of flowers, and village churches topped with traditional Provençal bell towers. Your hotel is on the road that leads to the next charming village, Cucuron. Spend some time today walking around the very pedestrian-friendly Lourmarin with several art galleries, specialty shops and, of course, a half-dozen very good restaurants. But tonight, you'll have dinner at your hotel's excellent restaurant.

Day 2

Avignon, France

Centrally Located Hotel In Avignon

Breakfast

After breakfast at your hotel, you have a full day to explore this beautiful region. Every day of the week, one or more of the villages has a farmer's market in the center. Lourmarin's is on Friday, while nearby Cucuron's is on Tuesday. Here you'll find fresh fruit and vegetables, freshly-baked bread, cheese and meat from the region, and flowers. Usually you can also find local handicrafts, including tablecloths and napkins made from Provençal fabric. The markets generally run from about 9:00am until noon, with some local variation. Try to catch one or two of these markets, to get a real feel for village life. After visiting a market, you'll visit the Lavender Museum at Coustellet. This small village is on the north side of the Luberon Mountain, about 20 miles north and west of Lourmarin. It's located on the D2 road, the Route de Gordes, very near its intersection with the main east-west road, N100. Depending on where you are in the morning, you can also approach the Museum from Cavaillon. At the Museum, you'll learn about the history of lavender's uses in perfumes and fragrance, and how it's grown now on lavender farms, and not just picked wild. Lavender is one of the most important crops in Provence; the museum started as an extension of a family-owned farm. Museum staff will explain the difference between “true lavender” and the wild lavender; they will also explain how it is distilled into the liquid prized by perfume blenders. As you head back towards Lourmarin, you'll cross over the Luberon Mountain and drive down its southern flank. On the way, you may have time to explore one or more of the exceptionally pretty villages in this area: Ménerbes, Lacoste, or Bonnieux. If wine interests you, Domaine de la Citadelle is an important winery, just outside Ménerbes on the Route de Cavaillon.

Day 3

Avignon, France

Centrally Located Hotel In Avignon

Breakfast

After breakfast at your hotel, head back to Avignon to return your rental car, or continue on to your next Avanti adventure!

Tour Features

Experience(s)

Sightseeing

Description

Some of the most beautiful villages in France can be found in this region of Provence, made famous by the writings of Peter Mayle. The Luberon is also noted for its outstanding restaurants and excellent wine, particularly rosés. Here you can find Roman bridges and theaters, mystical medieval abbeys, and a quieter way of life.

About Us

Your independent travel clients want the perfect trip--multiple destinations with special interest sightseeing and activities, accommodations with personality and style, and smooth, trouble-free connections throughout. Let Avanti make complex FIT easy for you to book, whether your clients are headed to Europe, Central and South America, or Asia. For more than 36 years, we’ve been selecting the best these destinations have to offer and weaving it all together with the right connections for a seamless experience that will delight your clients--and have them coming back for more. Uncommonly rewarding FIT.

Reviews and Recommendations for Avanti Destinations

96%

of 119

guests recommend

Virtuoso Verified Traveler

All reviews are from confirmed guests sharing exclusive insights

Sort reviews by

Recommended

Sorrento and Anacapri

By: Angela

Reviewed on: 13 Sep 2013

Great planning by Michelle Bemis using Sorrento as our home base and traveling to Pompeii and Amalfi coast from there. Easy train to Naples too. Everything was perfect and the hotels she booked could not have been better locations and better food.

Very Good

By: Jim

Reviewed on: 25 Sep 2013

Recommend!

By: Maria G

Reviewed on: 01 Oct 2013

The tours and properties that Avanti Destinations had for Greece were fun and fancy. The small luxury hotels they offer for the stay in Santorini were wonderful and beautiful. The half day Akritiri and winery tour around Santorini was fantastic.

By: Cindy13

Reviewed on: 11 Oct 2013

Recommended

By: packrat

Reviewed on: 05 Nov 2013

Euroscope provided our tours on a recent trip to London/Paris. We were picked up at our hotel at 8:45, instead of 8 am and the driver left us in Montemarte at 11:30. The wine and cheese "tasting" was a joke.
Same with the Louvre Museum tour. It was supposed to be from 5:30 to 8:30. We were picked up at 5:15 pm but didn't get into the museum until around 6:30. The tour ended exactly at 8:30. The guide was fine. We are hoping for a partial refund for these 2 tours.

Hotel Park Amsterdam...good location but real disappointment

By: Not provided

Reviewed on: 12 Jun 2014

we found the hotel to be much less than expected. Little things like non working tv, slick looking bathroom which was slick causing injury. When we left we asked to show our destination to driver, we were assured by hotel employee that the driver knew. Well guess what? He did not and dropped us at wrong dock. We walked about 1/2 mile with luggage, we arrived to cruise frazzled.

Recommend

By: Counselor

Reviewed on: 30 Jun 2014

The travel package with Avanti was great! A driver was there "on time" at all of our destinations awaiting our arrival! The only problem was that the vehicles were a bit small and not very roomy at all!

daytrips

By: CLB

Reviewed on: 13 Oct 2014

Super Friendly Service

By: Sarita

Reviewed on: 03 Dec 2014

Our trip to Cuzco and Machu Picchu was fantastic. We were met by Nohemi Nunez and was able to explain all the transfers and itinerary. She even went out of her way to assist us with retrieving duplicate travel documents for our kids. She then returned them to us at the hotel in time for our travels to Machu Picchu. She made several wonderful recommendations for us while we stayed in Cuzco and was prompt at meeting us again on our return trip from Machu Picchu. At Machu Picchu Victor Hugo was our tour guide and was very good at pacing the tour so not to tire us out. He seemed very knowledgeable and easy to understand. Avanti was always meeting us promptly to get us to the next leg of the trip.... couldn't have done it without their assistance.

Great accomodations

By: Niteowljune

Reviewed on: 01 Jan 2015

What great properties you all represent! Our favorite was Belvedere Hotel in Davos, Switzerland. Lovely hotel, awesome amenities, tasty food, cigar cave for the guys, close to town and skiing, attractive room with patio and mountain view.

Happy Travelers

By: Martha7915

Reviewed on: 19 Jul 2015

Victoria was very helpful on the planing of our trip. She was very helpful and she gave us plenty of advice and suggestions.

Recommended

Expert Service

By: DarioA

Reviewed on: 02 Aug 2015

Avanti services provided smooth well coordinated services that made our trip very enjoyable.

Recommended

Outstanding Trip to Italy and France

By: Christl

Reviewed on: 03 Aug 2015

Florence was amazing! Private cooking class & tours were marvelous, especially private tour of the Uffizi including rarely seen Vasari Corridor (built 1564 atop Ponte Vechio). Private tour to Siena & home winery with lunch was awesome. Can't rave enough about 8-day Florence stay including Hotel Bernini. Second week was totally different and not as memorable, but fascinating nonetheless: toured Bordeaux wine area on Viking River "cruise" which was more floating hotel than cruise (in comparison, 15-day cruise Amsterdam to Budapest on Viking Braggi last year was awesome!). Private tour of Hine Cognac house in Jarnac was outstanding as was trip to Saint Emilion to view top wineries. Final 3 days were in Paris (superb hotel: Grand Hotel du Palais Royal). Very private gourmet dinner cruise on Don Juan II (Yachts de Paris) was grand & pricey, but well worth it for scenic tour & luxury. Private guided driving tour of Normandy to pay our respects (14 hrs - top guide again) was excellent

Not Recommended

Frustrating

By: Lynn

Reviewed on: 09 Sep 2015

We had several occasions when the transfers we had paid for did not materialize. We were double charged at one hotel. Was that because we never received the original vouchers. They were sent to the wrong address. The hotels were acceptable. The rail travel was substandard even though we supposedly had first class seats. The seating was open so that didn't help and the air conditioning was not working on two of the trains. The rental cars were in the wrong driver's name which caused problems and caused us to have to pay extra for another driver. We were not able to use one of our prepaid train tickets due to our flight being redirected to Rome rather than Milan. That was not Avanti's fault but none the less a problem.

Recommended

Great Tour company

By: John L

Reviewed on: 16 Oct 2015

I was very pleased with our recent trip to Italy through Travel and Transport and Avanti Destinations. They arranged pick up and transfers for each part of our trip and each was executed perfectly despite some airline delays. They also arranges private tours of Rome, The Vatican and Pompei. Each was perfect with a very pleasant and fully English-speaking guide.

Good Experience

By: Jim

Reviewed on: 06 Nov 2015

Mixed experience

By: Mccartjd

Reviewed on: 09 Jan 2016

Transfers from the port to hotel and hotel to airport were exceptional. Very well done. Tours in Rio were mixed. We weren't expecting full busloads of tourists and in one case the guide was trying to give the tour in four languages making it very difficult to align what we were seeing to his description. A problem with one bus lacking air conditioning was fixed quickly by getting a replacement bus. Seeing Christ the Redeemer and Sugar Loaf were worth the trip.

They have you covered!

By: Europe 2016

Reviewed on: 17 May 2016

Even when the flight of one person in our group got delayed by five plus hours, Avanti was on the job. We called our travel agent, Izumi Ogawa at Vision Travel, and even got her out of bed in the middle of the night! We were worried that the the transfer service, arranged by Izumi through Avanti, wouldn't be there when the delayed flight arrived. But we worried for nothing. Izumi assured us that Avanti keeps track of things like delayed flights and would be there for the pick up. She was absolutely right. The transfer service was there to meet the delayed flight and the last person in our group enjoyed an excellent ride in a luxurious van to our hotel. Many thanks to Izumi and Avanti.

Fantastic service!

By: CWH21

Reviewed on: 24 Jun 2016

Nanci helped us plan a fantastic honeymoon to Ireland! From the wonderful places we stayed to the tours and activities she recommend. It was a trip of a lifetime! We will definitely be using her again for future trips!

Great service

By: Ncy55

Reviewed on: 24 Jun 2016

We had great success with Avanti tours. All our drivers were very friendly and professional and always on time. We requested a bigger vehicle because of baggage, etc. and they were always very nice big vans. Very happy with their service.

Reviewed on: 11 Aug 2016

another great vacation

By: johnny easy

Reviewed on: 01 Oct 2016

hi,once again christine planned the perfect trip for us.all hotels were great & in the right location for each destination.our guides in italy made the trip truly enjoyable,we're already looking forward to our next trip to ireland,thanks to christine & blue skies travel

Barcelona tour was great!

By: TGlide

Reviewed on: 19 Sep 2016

Our Avanti Barcelona Sightseeing Tour with Lunch was exciting. This tour was full of all things Barcelona! We definitely feel like we got the best highlights of this wonderful city. Our tour was actually divided into 2 tours with lunch in between the tours. Nothing on our voucher indicated this and it would have been nice to know so we would have known more how our day was structured. Our first tour guide Amalia, was very knowledgeable, bubbly and charasmatic! She was concerned about everyone on the tour and wanted us to have an enjoyable tour. We even went on a tram ride with a view overlooking Barcelona, an unexpected surprise. The afternoon tour guide was not as personable but was sufficient. Our tours consisted of bus transportation and walking tours. The main negative on this tour was that it ended in the middle of a busy street in Barcelona and we were not transported back to our Wamos tour location that we left from. We were all just left to find our way in a Foreign city!

Good and better.

By: JKB

Reviewed on: 21 Sep 2016

We have used Avanti services in the past and been very satisfied. We recently use Avanti services when we traveled to Florence, Italy and Athens, Greece. The semi-private walking tour we booked in Florence was one of the best we've ever had. The two tours we booked out of Athens--Acropolis and the Temple of Apollo--were satisfactory but could have been better had they been equipped with the broadcast/hearing devices we were provided on several other tours.

Wonderful Trip

By: Anon

Reviewed on: 18 Apr 2017

The package that was put together for us was wonderful. We experienced everything that we wanted to and definitely got every penny out of our trip. We stayed in 2 5-Star and 1 4-Star hotel/resort for much less than we would have expected and they were all in very beautiful and convenient locations. Our taxi/ferry/travel schedule was put together very well and easy to understand. The tours that we had were great experiences, really fun and helped us immerse ourselves more into the local culture and history.
The only downside was that we were told that we would have a gift in the room included in the last hotel and that gift was not there - and the hotel did not know anything about it.
Considering that was the only thing that was wrong with the trip though, it was pretty easy to overlook. It was still a very wonderful trip and we would definitely recommend Avanti Destinations to other travelers.

By: JimJim & Bebe

Reviewed on: 24 Mar 2017

Amazing Asia

By: Asia 2017

Reviewed on: 16 Apr 2017

This is our second trip that our Advisor, Izumi Ogawa, used Avanti Destinations. And just like the last time, Avanti used top notch partners to execute their well thought out plans. And it doesn't seem to matter what part of the world they are focusing on. Our first experience with them was a trip to Europe and this time, on the opposite side of the globe, Indochina. From Italy, Switzerland, and France the first time to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos this time. It didn't faze them even a little bit. They only seem to have one speed...maximum performance! Even in a remote area like Luang Prabang, they provided a well spoken and knowledgeable guide to usher us for a full day on two wonderful tours...Tham Pak Ou Cave and Kuang Si Waterfalls. In the past we have been subjected to tour guides that were supposedly speaking English, but we weren't entirely sure. Not with the partners that work with Avanti. Not only very understandable but also personable and just plain nice. Great job Avanti.

Reviewed on: 20 May 2017

trip

By: trip

Reviewed on: 20 May 2017

Avanti Tours

By: Robert and Nancy

Reviewed on: 04 Jun 2017

As a whole the tours were fine. Well planned and very professional.
I would however NEVER recommend the hop on/ hop off bus in London. London is so crowded we basically just sat in traffic 1/2 of our first of two days with a hop on/off pass. The narration of the "City Tours" bus left much to be desired. They just basically said "here is Buckingham Palace" no details or history etc. We finally decided to take the subway ourself and saw much more of London.
People would be much better served by just buying an oyster pass and traveling on their own.
The hop on/off tour in Edinbrugh was much better as that is not a crowded city and the tour was much more organized.

Recommended

Italy Honeymoon

By: Travel

Reviewed on: 30 Jun 2017

We had a great experience with Avanti Destinations. We had no issues throughout our trip.

Recommended

tour operator

By: jay w

Reviewed on: 19 Jun 2017

Review of Avanti Destinations 6-17

By: Bryan

Reviewed on: 12 Jun 2017

My dealings were with Tammy Jones-Deem, but to the extent that she relied upon Avanti (for vouchers and reservations), the service was excellent. There was an interim mistake regarding a voucher for a transfer from the hotel in Barcelona to the airport, but that was quickly corrected. The information I received regarding the bookings were clear and timely.

Italian Honeymoon

By: Andy

Reviewed on: 14 Jun 2017

Avanti had lots of great options for us to choose from while we were planning and once we got to Italy everything we did was incredible. Their tours and excursions were amazing and I would gladly use them again.

Peru-Argentina Trip

By: Anne

Reviewed on: 26 Jun 2017

Europe Summer Trip 2017

By: Eurotravelet

Reviewed on: 26 Jun 2017

The drivers were prompt, spoke English very well. The driver from our Rome hotel to the port for our cruise was especially good. He pointed out many things for us to observe on the way out of the city. The driver from the airport in London to our hotel was very good as well.

Costa Rica

By: Dave and Cheryl

Reviewed on: 01 Jul 2017

What more could you ask for?

By: independent traveler

Reviewed on: 05 Jul 2017

For the most part, we would recommend Avanti Destinations again for other travelers. We have used this company for travel before and by its reputation chose them for this trip. We had to work with them because our party consisted of two adults and a teen. Finding family accommodations was a bit more difficult. We suggest that this company secure more hotels that are geared toward travelling families. One hotel in Cordoba was particularly difficult to find as we were driving. The hotel, however, sent a young man to a location we could find, and directed my husband to the hotel. Outstanding!!!

Europe

By: Anonymous

Reviewed on: 08 Aug 2017

Frendly faces in a far away place

By: Mr & Mrs Strimple

Reviewed on: 18 Jul 2017

When we arrived in our destination city it was a little scary not to know the language. We found our Avanti driver and spent the whole taxi ride to the hotel in conversation. He taught us a few common phrases, and showed us some landmarks as we passed them by.
Avanti Destinations was with us every step of the way, we never felt lost or unprepared. The whole week was a blast.

Avanti

By: HOLD

Reviewed on: 17 Jul 2017

I really do not know actually, never heard from or talked to anyone with them. There were a few issues with the train tickets etc. but we just figured it out. Would not pay for first class again on trains as we were unable to get our first class seats first because train was late and missed the second train and just had to jump on another and second because there was no indication of which train on the way to Pisa and apparently there were 2 within 15 mins, we got on first one which had no first class and stopped in every town - major pain - and did not know until too late. The second one apparently would have had our seats and been faster but it was very unclear. Also we LOVED the villa, but half way through our time there the Padrone showed up and was loud and rude and the wonderful caretaker disappeared when he was there and we had no recourse. ruined 2 days. had no way to get any assistance.

Had a great time

By: Mickie

Reviewed on: 19 Jul 2017

The hotels booked were as described. Ramon's Village was in need of renovations, with no TV in the rooms and noticeable wear. But the ability to book snorkeling and other tours made up for it.
Roberts Grove in Placencia was our favorite, with the most friendly, accommodating staff. And the tour we took of the Monkey River was great. But mostly it was the people.
The San Ignacio Hotel was the most luxurious, and was a beautiful setting. In addition, the tours from there were the best. They went off without a single hitch, and Fidelio, who was our guide on two tours was so very knowledgeable about the Mayans, and about the native plants and history.

By: Reviewer

Reviewed on: 31 Jul 2017

C

By: Vicki

Reviewed on: 31 Jul 2017

Self Guided Tour In Scotland-"The Outlander Tour".

By: Ken B

Reviewed on: 11 Sep 2017

We were very pleased with Avanti and the tour planned for us on the "Outlander" trip to Scotland. We started in Edinburgh and immediately began using the passes that were provided including the Bus Tour, Edinburgh Castle, the awesome Tea Room, and the Edinburgh Museum. I really thought both were great and the Heritage Pass was a great "bang for the buck" since we were able to use it in many places that were on the tour. The hotel accommodations were quite good for the most part. We were a bit let down with the hotel in Edinburgh but I believe that it would be very difficult to find an affordable hotel so close to the tourist sites there so I personally found the hotel OK especially with the nice breakfast. All the other places we visited and hotels were great and really put us in the mood to be in Scotland, seeing the amazing Scottish Highlands while also experiencing the remarkable history including the story of the Jacobites and the feeling of the Outlander movie. I am out of space

Italy

By: beverly

Reviewed on: 10 Aug 2017

They did a good job on everything - drivers were where they were supposed to be. And they were happy to make an extra stop when half of our party got off at the wrong train stop in Cinque Terre. It was all very nicely done -

Camino

By: Biz

Reviewed on: 09 Oct 2017

Overall our accommodations and travel worked out well, but we did have 2 glitches that we wanted to share with you. The first was when we got to PortoMarin the first day of hiking. When we arrived at the Hotel Villajardin we were told that we had no reservation there and our luggage was not there. The man at the desk made a phone call and then said I know where your reservation and luggage are. They were at the Hotel Ferramentierro- across town! After a very long day of hiking, we were not happy to have to hike across the city to a different hotel. The hotel was fine as we were the accommodations and restaurant. Something shady was definitely going on their end with the reservation...The other was the cancellation of our trip home from Madrid due to "no crew", but we were eventually put on a different flight.

Venice

By: Carol

Reviewed on: 02 Nov 2017

Always on time.

By: Jeka

Reviewed on: 08 Nov 2017

Always on time, professionals, clean tour cars, friendly, easy to understand. Being a woman, I prefer the female guides because they know the things I am most interested in and they give excellent tips. The younger males are not the smoothest drivers and they do not seem to be enthusiastic about their jobs. They seem to be distracted and quoting a memorized
history brochure.

Europe

By: Nolan Chandler

Reviewed on: 28 May 2018

Avanti Destinations had connecting taxis and guides for us when we were departing or arriving to a particular country/city. The guides/taxis were always promptly there to meet us to pick us up. The connections and hotels were efficient and elegant. I would recommend Avanti Destinations.

Italy trip

By: SantaNCH

Reviewed on: 05 Jun 2018

Avanti Destinations

By: KNH

Reviewed on: 11 Nov 2017

Avanti planned our recent trip’s hotels, transfers & tours in Paris, Venice & Rome.
We were very happy with the folks who took care of our transfers from the airport, train, hotels & tours. They were all very professional & personable.
The hotels were all very clean, the staff all very helpful & professional as well. The 1st 2 hotel rooms were a little on the small size but manageable. The 2nd 2 hotel room had a little more “elbow room” & felt a bit more comfortable. We enjoyed the breakfasts at the 2nd 2 hotels the most as they included
eggs, sausage & bacon ...not just breads, cakes/cookies, yogurt, cold cereal & a little fruit.
All our tours were small group tours with English speaking guides. In the case of the Louvre tour...it ended up being a personal tour for us...fabulous! All guides were very professional, well versed in their topics & cared to be sure you got your questions answered, photos taken & safely walked the tours together! Definitely recommend them!

Well done

By: MDM

Reviewed on: 27 Nov 2017

The best part about Avanti tours were the pick ups at the train station and airport. With the exception of our driver in Bologna, all of our drivers were exceptional. So nice to have our train tickets done by Avanti as well. Highly recommend the aforementioned features.

Trip to Guatemala

By: kitty

Reviewed on: 22 Feb 2018

Chilean vacation

By: AT

Reviewed on: 12 Apr 2018

The tour operator did a wonderful job with my Chilean vacation. I had two wonderful guides: Paula in San Pedro and Hete in Rapa Nui. Both knew the area very well and were very friendly. I wish I had two more days in Atacama desert--so many more things to see and do and I spent way too much time traveling to get there. Four nights in Rapa Nui was perfect for me. Lovely island and Hete was also the perfect guide. He gave me fantastic recommendations of things to see and do on my own and great places to eat. He also pointed me to the church so I could attend Easter service and hear the signing in the Rapa Nui language which was wonderful. Had an extra special treat of a troupe from Tahiti visiting and the young people sang as well.

Holland snd Poland

By: Linda

Reviewed on: 06 May 2018

Two part review

By: traveler

Reviewed on: 21 May 2018

We used Avanti through our travel agent to supplement cruise with Lindblad/National Geographic. Ecuador & Galapagos arrangements were mostly handled by Lindblad and were excellent. Avanti also arranged Panama excursions - a "tack-on" to the trip and these arrangements were of inconsistent quality. Hotel -- Crowne Plaza in Panama City - was a tired and well-worn property but its location was good. Private tours - arranged with Gambia Tours, local operator - were inconsistent although reliable and most of the guides knowledgeable and friendly.

Iceland

By: Madison

Reviewed on: 26 May 2018

Italy

By: Shelly

Reviewed on: 07 Jun 2018

We were very happy with the tours we booked. The guides and drivers were all very polite and helpful and made each tour a wonderful experience. Except for our scheduled tour to the Amalfi Coast, every guide and/or driver were prompt and everything went very smoothly. We especially enjoyed our driver that took us into Tuscany and our guide in Rome that took us to the Vatican, Colosseum, and Forum. Exceptional!

France-trip of a lifetime

By: Midge Wische

Reviewed on: 06 Jun 2018

I felt so well taken care of as a single traveler. Everything was so well coordinated. Not a single misstep on Avanti's part. Versailles tour was cancelled because of a strike; my money was refunded immediately. When I called to state that pre-arranged Montmartre trip would be too strenuous, money was refunded immediately. Thank you for your professionalism and, graciousness. I hope I have the opportunity to work with you again, via my Virtuoso travel agent Rosie Goldberger, Houston, TX.

Ireland

By: ken

Reviewed on: 04 Jun 2018

Okay

By: Jean

Reviewed on: 06 Jun 2018

Sorry, I mixed up Travel Bound with this one in my comments! Please use those for this review. My Travel Bound comments would have been: great accommodations and pu service that was friendly and punctual!

Excellent

By: Deloris Maze

Reviewed on: 09 Jun 2018

Very satisfied with trip

By: Denise

Reviewed on: 15 Jun 2018

I recently took a trip to Italy and would recommend Avanti Destinations to other travelers. I find their tours to be really fun, informative, and reasonably priced. A general tip -- I would recommend taking smaller group tours. For example, we took a tour to Cinque Terre that was a bus of over 50 people and looking back it would have been more enjoyable going with a smaller group. Just something to keep in mind!

Avanti

By: VML

Reviewed on: 20 Jun 2018

Drivers to and from airports and train stations were great, especially the gentleman in Munich. Most of the hotels were very nice. Having to wait 8 hours for our room in Paris, after arriving from USA was problematic

Dream come true south of Italy family vacation

By: cam

Reviewed on: 01 Aug 2018

We were very happy with Vanessa Genger's work. Vanessa organized everything from hotels, air, private tours to ground transportation. Each event was perfectly executed. The private tours and cooking school were outstanding. The tours were staffed with the most knowledgeable and professional tour guides. We also loved each hotel (with our special accommodations) and the locations Vanessa booked for our stays. It has been years since I worked with a travel agent so there was a learning curve during the planning stage.

Italy Trip

By: Sue

Reviewed on: 01 Jul 2018

For the most part we were pleased with Avanti Destinations. We were disappointed with our 3 hour driving tour of Rome. One of the drivers did not speak English. As we drove he did not explain what we were seeing. When we arrived at a destination he did not tell us what we were seeing. We had to ask the other driver if we did not know. It was very frustrating. We were very pleased with all of the other guides that we had. They were knowledgeable and kept the interest of our grandchildren. A big thank you to them. We appreciated the drivers that met us and took us to the airports and train stations. They were very helpful. All in all we would use Avanti Destinations again.

Avanti

By: Jenny

Reviewed on: 05 Jul 2018

Peru 2018

By: Steve

Reviewed on: 06 Jul 2018

Our experience with Avanti Destinations was fabulous. Every member of the Avanti team was professional and courteous, and they went "above and beyond" to make our trip smoothe and memorable. I would use them again!

Don & Nancy Italy

By: Allan

Reviewed on: 10 Jul 2018

Ireland & Scotland

By: Diana Chandler

Reviewed on: 22 Jul 2018

Our travel agent, Bob Romano of Riverside, CA, and Avanti reallly outdid themselves with making our two-week vacation in Ireland and Scotland a stress-free and fun-filled trip. Every, single aspect from transportation to and from airports/hotels to accommodations that were spectacular and within our budget to setting up tours for us was handled with the utmost professionalism. Our trip went off without a hitch because of their care and attention to detail.

Ireland

By: Charlie H

Reviewed on: 06 Aug 2018

Fun

By: Heyho

Reviewed on: 06 Aug 2018

Trip was great and hotels were top notch

Recommended

No hitches

By: ExIowaNewsGuy

Reviewed on: 01 Aug 2018

Avanti delivered really nice hotels in Bruges, Belgium, and Amsterdam; timely transfers, a really first-class trip on a high-speed train between Brussels and Amsterdam, and top-notch tours. Our only misgiving was not knowing that we had to use the Van Gogh tour voucher to make a reservation to enter the museum. Fortunately, we were informed about that early that day and we able to get in with the last group. Missing that would have been a bummer!

Avanti

By: shell

Reviewed on: 06 Aug 2018

Europe Trip

By: LD

Reviewed on: 07 Aug 2018

We were very pleased. Cars were waiting for us at airports when we arrived. Hotels were all very nice. They all had our information and we just had to hand them the voucher and Passport and we were checked in promptly.
The tours we selected were topnotch.

Tour Operator

By: Sandy

Reviewed on: 13 Aug 2018

Scotland and Ireland Trip

By: Pam

Reviewed on: 05 Aug 2018

My only complaint is the strictness of the refund policy. I decided to forgo use of my car in the last leg of my trip and it was only my earlier experience in my trip that led me to this needed decision. There was no possibility of any refund after 10 days prior to the beginning of my trip. I can totally understand having to pay some sort of cancellation fee, even a hefty one, but to have no possibility of any refund felt too strict to me. Other than that the flow of the many moving parts necessary for my trip fit together perfectly.